Dans tes bras (2009) - film review

Louis was abandoned by his mother when he was just a few weeks old.  Now aged 16, he wants to know more about his origins, so, against the wishes of his adopted parents, he heads south in search of some answers.  By chance, he finds his mother Solange working in a florists’ shop.  When Louis tells her that he is her son, Solange refuses to believe him and violently repels him.   Unable to comprehend the woman’s reaction, Louis takes a room in a small hotel next to her shop and makes several more attempts to contact her, without success.  The girl who runs the hotel, Clémentine, takes a liking to Louis and encourages him to persevere...

From the little attention it has received, it is evident that Dans tes bras has suffered from being released within a few months of Claude Miller and Nathan Miller’s Je suis heureux que ma mère soit vivante.  Both films deal with the same subject, an adopted adolescent looking for his biological mother, although the Millers’ film is stylistically more interesting and the emotional turmoil on both sides more palpably rendered.  By contrast, Hubert Gillet’s film is a far less polished production, far less sure of itself, and therein perhaps lies its charm.  Dans tes bras may lack the professional touch of the Millers’ film but it is a slightly more rewarding piece, its imperfections somehow adding to the realism of the performances and thereby giving it greater emotional bite.

For his first film, director Hubert Gillet draws heavily on his own experiences, and this is probably what gives the film its immediacy and near-documentary realism.  Gillet’s mise-en-scène is restrained but very effective, allowing the actors the time and the space to develop their characters and tell the story, which they do with great conviction.  The narrative is sparse, offering few plot surprises and very little in the way of explanatory dialogue, yet this simplicity is what makes the film so authentic and compelling.  Simple awkward gestures - such as Louis’ struggle to make eye-contact with his mother at a funeral - say far more than pages of dialogue and give the film an appealing true-to-life quality.  The film is fundamentally about characters trying to make contact when they cannot find the words to express their feelings, so the lack of dialogue is appropriate and well-compensated for by the perfectly judged performances.

The acting is of a uniformly high standard, although it is Martin Loizillon who deserves to be singled out for special praise, as he is a revelation in his debut screen role as the teenager who is determined to find his true mother.  Michèle Laroque is no less convincing as the conflicted mother and demonstrates that she is capable of tackling more challenging dramatic parts than the ones she is usually known for.  Perhaps the most poignant performance is supplied by Catherine Mouchet, who as Louis’ adopted mother subtly mirrors the rejection that Louis himself feels as an alienated teenager.  Lola Naymark is also touchingly convincing as Louis’ girlfriend, the lynchpin character that effectively resolves the rift between Louis and his mother.  Some will doubtless judge Dans tes bras to be naïve, perhaps even banal, but hopefully most spectators will see beyond its imperfections and appreciate it for what it is, an unpretentious and engaging coming-of-age drama that conveys the pain of rejection with genuine feeling.

© James Travers 2010

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